Mid-August 2009 poll results

A Washington Post – ABC News poll from mid August included questions on how the President is handling energy policy. The results showed very strong support for energy efficiency as a way to fight climate change. The accompanying published article, however did not mention efficiency and instead talked about solar, wind, nuclear (including the NIMBY issue) and transportation.

Looking into the tabulated answers, the poll results show that efficiency has strong support that appears to be non-partisan. Question 24, parts f and g ask if business and industry should do more energy conservation, and the result is overwhelmingly ‘yes’. Specifically 79% strongly support encouraging more energy efficiency, where only 4% strongly discourage this step. When asked if business and industry should be required to do more, strong support drops to 62%, with 12% strongly opposing; but this is still a very positive indicator for something that (as the question asked) would be required, one might say imposed, on US business.

Other questions in this area that also receive strong support are ‘develop more solar and wind power’ (79%); ‘require car manufacturers to improve fuel efficiency’ (74%), and ‘develop electric car technology’ (67%); so all of these options can be seen as generally positive, less controversial, and more likely to be embraced by the public.

On the other hand, ‘build more nuclear power plants’ appears to be a polarizing issue, with 36% giving strong support, and 30% offering strong opposition. Other options with about equal opposing views include all of the fossil-based solutions such as more coal mining, more oil drilling, and building more plants that burn fossil fuel to generate electricity.

The role of energy efficiency

Of all options, reducing electricity use is the lowest cost resource available to significantly impact greenhouse gas emissions because every time electricity is not used (that otherwise would have been), less fuel is burned in powerplants. Nearly 50% of US electricity comes from coal-fired powerplants. Even from the most efficient coal plants, about two pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) are released for every kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity produced, so two pounds are avoided for every kWh of electricity that is saved. It is not hard to think about applying today’s efficient technology to achieve billions of kWh savings and millions of metric tons of CO2 reduction annually from energy efficiency, but it is very hard to imagine the cost and scale of solar, wind, electric cars, or “cash for clunkers” that would be required to reduce CO2 emissions on the scale that would put a dent in the rate of US greenhouse gas emissions.

Technologies exist today in the form of more efficient lights and better control systems to be sure that electricity consumption does not happen when it is not needed. Other measures available today are better air conditioners, motors with higher efficiencies, insulation, better windows, fixing building “envelope” leaks, and other steps to stop unnecessary waste. Today’s efficient products give more comfort for higher productivity, better lighting, and safer work environments simply because new technology is better at converting electricity to a useful purpose.

The role of financing

Achieving significant impact from energy efficiency would require new investment on the order of tens of billions per year for technologies to reduce electricity use, but those making the investments will quickly recover their money in the form of lower energy bills. To accelerate the benefits of higher energy efficiency, a system is needed to put more capital into the hands of those who benefit from reduced energy use so that investments can be made rapidly to ramp up the replacement of inefficient energy-using products and systems. This capital simply needs to bridge the gap between the cost of the new equipment and the future utility bill savings that it will provide, so an efficient and effective loan vehicle meets this need.

One such program that is receiving strong support comes from proceeds of a bond that are lent to property owners to finance energy retrofits. Recipients then repay their loans over time via an assessment on their property tax bill. These bonds can be issued by municipal or county financing districts and the proceeds can be typically used to retrofit both commercial and residential properties. For maximum effectiveness, these bonds would be issued in combination with federal loan guarantees to dramatically accelerate the energy retrofitting of America’s building stock by making new capital easily available. Because the repayment is tied to the property itself, the loan stays with the building to better connect the recipient (building owner) to the efficiency measures.

Summary

Poll results indicate that Americans are very supportive (with very little opposition) of steps to improve energy efficiency. Implementing energy efficiency requires evaluation, project development engineering, implementation, new product development and manufacturing, plus ongoing measurement, and each of these provides a real opportunity to create new jobs. Energy efficiency is the least expensive energy resource and the lowest cost method to slow the effects of climate change. All cost-effective opportunities to save energy should be implemented. Because energy efficiency saves money in the form of lower utility bills, those making the investments will get their money back, but investment vehicles such as simple and easily-available loan programs are needed to provide up-front capital.

About Lime Energy

Lime Energy is a leading provider of integrated energy engineering, consulting and implementation solutions specializing in improving the energy efficiency of our clients’ facilities, reducing their operating costs and carbon emissions. We focus on two specific markets: the commercial and industrial market, including utilities, and the public sector market, working primarily with energy service companies (“ESCOs”). Our clients include commercial and industrial businesses, property owners and managers, utilities, and ESCOs serving U.S. government and educational institutions. We focus on deploying solutions to reduce the energy-related expenditures of our client’s facilities and the impact of their energy use on the environment, including energy efficient lighting upgrades, energy efficiency mechanical and electrical retrofit and upgrade services, water conservation, weatherization and renewable project development and implementation. We provide energy efficiency solutions across all of our clients’ facilities, ranging from high-rise office buildings to manufacturing plants, retail sites, mixed use complexes and large, government sites to small, local facilities. The company’s stock is traded on NASDAQ under the symbol LIME. Additional information is available at the company’s website at www.lime-energy.com or by calling 847-437-1666.

[image by f_shields a creative commons]

Reprinted with permission from Ecopreneurist